Ivy League grads and top grades don’t guarantee you’re a great worker, says Jamie Dimon—which is why JPMorgan hires thousands of ex-felons

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase, says an Ivy League degree doesn't guarantee a great employee.

With more than 240,000 staff working for JPMorgan, America’s biggest bank wants to ensure it hires people from across the societal spectrum, including those who have formerly been incarcerated.

Speaking to LinkedIn, CEO Jamie Dimon reiterated his long-held view that skills are equally as important as education when it comes to finding the right candidate.

And while hardships suffered previously in life may not be mentioned on a CV—while a Harvard business degree would be displayed proudly—Dimon said that doesn’t mean these experiences should be discounted in the hiring process.

The 68-year-old oversees JPMorgan’s Second Chance Agenda, which aims to help people with criminal records reenter the workforce, the local economy, and their nearby communities.

He explained: “There are 70 million ex-felons in the U.S. and a lot of those folks, we met with them, … can’t get a car, can’t get housing. A lot of them are married, they don’t want to go back, they need help, they need skills, so what do you do?

“We got rid of ‘check the box’, and these are not hardened, violent criminals—but we’ve hired something like four or five thousand ex-felons, a lot of them are misdemeanors. It just shows you there’s a lot of talent out there.”

Data from JPMorgan suggests that the bank has indeed uncovered a new talent pool. In 2023, 9% of JP hires in the U.S. had a prior record—which had no bearing on their roles. The year prior, the banking behemoth hired over 4,600 people with “criminal backgrounds”.

Dimon, who was paid a record $36 million for his work in 2023, was skeptical of some of the hallmarks of candidate potential.

He added: “I don’t think necessarily because you go to an Ivy League school or have great grades it means you’re going to be a great worker, great person or something like that. If you look at skills of people it is amazing how skilled people are in something, but it didn’t show up on their resume.

“And of course if someone overcame unbelievable hardships in life, would you incorporate that when you hire them? I would. I look at all those things.”

Changing the school system

Dimon, a father of three, has previously advocated for a shift in the way schools are measured: away from college enrollment rates and towards job opportunities.

The Harvard Business School alumni told Indianapolis-based WISH-TV: “If you look at kids they gotta be educated to get jobs. Too much focus in education has been on graduating college… It should be on jobs. I think the schools should be measured on, did the kids get out and get a good job?”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics approximately 61% of high school graduates enroll in college or university—a fairly standard amount compared to previous years.

However, the bureau reported that the employability of graduates is falling: among the 20-to-29-year-olds who earned a bachelor’s degree in 2023, 70% were employed—a fall from 76.4%.

A shift is also occurring in the degrees individuals are selecting.

According to the first edition of Jobber’s Blue-Collar Report, in which the business management platform surveyed 1,000 people aged 18 to 20 in the U.S., 75% of respondents said they were interested in exploring vocational schools that offer paid, on-the-job training.

Dimon says schools should examine their curriculum: “If you want to help society and help yourselves, get these kids in tenth, eleventh, twelfth grade with skills that get them a good job.

“The schools have to now change their education a little bit: cyber, data, program management, financial management. Stuff you don’t traditionally teach in high school that we should teach them there so these kids graduate making jobs [of] $45,000, $55,000, $65,000. It’s great for society, great for lower income [households], it’s great for the companies.”

The JPMorgan way

Ever-scrutinized by older generations, Gen Z has been the butt of criticism that they simply don’t know how to operate in the office.

Some businesses have begun offering etiquette classes to their younger staff members, while other bosses rankle against their “yapping” and say they’re difficult to work with.

Wall Street veteran Dimon—who will step down from the top job at the bank within the next five years—is unfazed.

Whether it’s because younger workers have grown up in a more online world than the rest of society, had their social lives impacted by the pandemic, or were never exposed to formal career advice offered in college—the financial giant has a solution.

“They’re not used to walking in a building like this,” Dimon said of recruits who come straight out of high school. “They don’t necessarily know the social ethic and the social culture of shaking hands and thank you notes and stuff like that.

“There is this education to get these kids more comfortable just coming to work here. We’ve got to make these kids more comfortable and I think one of the things that works there is apprenticeships, internships and then a little bit of training which again, they can teach in high school too.”